Various types of communication cables, both electrical and fiber optic, must unavoidably be spliced during initial installation, subsequent modification, routine maintenance, and for a variety of other reasons. As such cables normally are jacketed with a relatively good seal which must be broken to make a splice, splicing compromises the ideal operational characteristics otherwise essentially attainable from an integral unspliced cable. To minimize the effects inherent with such splicing, a multiplicity of designs have evolved whereby adverse exposure of the cable in the region of the splice is largely controlled and minimized.
One major shortcoming of the conventional methods used to shield and protect a cable splice is that the materials usually employed to shield the spliced region are often themselves subject to the deteriorative effects of the elements because the materials used for this purpose, may be corroded or the like.
For example, metal plates are commonly used for the purpose of clamping and sealing the cables. But after years of being buried, the metal often corrodes due to moisture, electrolytic action or the like, after which the clamping and sealing mechanism loses its strength, exposing the cable splice to damage from the elements or allowing the cables to be pulled from the housing, thereby making such plates the time limiting factor in the useful life of the devices. It is desirable to have the life of the devices extend as long as possible to limit failures and to reduce costly replacements.
Another shortcoming of conventional methods arises when subsequent inspection or maintenance must be performed on the splice or in the immediate region of the splice. Anchoring of the ends of the joined cables is essential for prevention of relative motion in the vicinity of a splice, which relative motion could potentially produce stresses at the juncture of the splice causing reduction in anticipated performance, or even failure. This is especially true of a fiber optic cable that is very sensitive to stress at such junctions.
Conventional methods potentially provide for both anchoring and sealing functions, but these functions are not independent such that a stabilizing anchor must normally be removed or disassembled in order to break the seal to allow manual access to the splice itself. As a result, reentry to conventional splice closures not only breaks the seal but also, simultaneously breaks the anchor, thereby exposing the spliced cable to the destructive relative movements while work is being conducted at the splice.
The current invention bridges this shortcoming by providing an inner splice chamber which provides sealing for a reentry access lid which is independent of an anchoring (and cable sealing) mechanism at the location whereat the cables enter the inner splice chamber. Thus, the splice chamber may be subsequently reentered without disturbing the integrity of the anchoring mechanism, such that stresses are not transferred to the splice during the reentry procedure.